We got up at 6:00, had breakfast, showered, did a little last minute packing and were out the door by 8:00. The drive to LAX was pretty uneventful and we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

Flying on Air France to CDG where we will have a 6 hour layover before heading to Manchester, UK on a Flybe jet. Air France had cancelled the original flight from CDG to Manchester and rebooked us on this flight.

It was a bit overcast and misty on the ground in Los Angeles this morning but it’s a beautiful day up above the clouds.

We’ll be in the air about 10 hours, I’m hoping to get a little sleep during that time.

Chris and I are discussing whether the meal is ham and cheese with chicken and polenta or one or the other. I think the latter. He was right, the salad had prosciutto and was some kind of effort at being capresse, pretty awful and I gave Chris the prosciutto. The entree was okay, chicken with polenta.

Nothing like the food we had the last time we flew Air France in 2016. That time the food was very good. I think they’re cutting corners just like the US airlines. They didn’t bring around the drinks service as often either and I’m talking water not wine but while we’re on the subject they only brought that around once.
Breakfast was awful, some kind of toast quarter with a piece of ham glued inside by mystery cheese and some overcooked spinach and a cooked cherry tomato.
Pretty disappointing.

The staff was wonderful as ever.

I was able to sleep for about an hour and rest pretty comfortably using my new, very much worth the $29.99 I paid for it, Trtl Travel Pillow. For reference, I have arthritis and bulging disks in my neck.

Once we got to CDG we were pretty tired and hungry.

Went to a place called “I love Paris” and had a very expensive but quite good lunch of chicken burgers and frites with beer for Chris and wine for me.

We had an unexpected bit of excitement while waiting at our gate at CDG for our flight to Manchester.
French airport police are definitely patient!
This unidentified dude was screaming, yelling and physically fighting them and the airport employees, who tried to help, for about an hour managing to hold up a flight all that time since he started this display at the counter. Then in spite of the employee’s protestations, he entering the gangway yelling and waving his arms all the way, proceeding onto the plane. He apparently escalated his pushing, shoving and yelling until they managed to get him onto the gangway again. They tried to calm him down for a long time but he would start to walk away and then turn around and start the whole thing over again. Finally they called gendarmes, who talked with him briefly until he started physically accosting them as well. At that point they handcuffed him, which ultimately took 5 of them to accomplish, with one videoing the whole thing on her iPhone, and hauled him off. I didn’t think to video the altercation I was too stunned.

Our plane finally arrived 10 minutes late and we headed to Manchester airport with no more drama.

We seamlessly went through customs and grabbed a taxi to our wonderful hotel.

We stayed at the Oddfellows on the Park which is about 4 miles from the airport. Here is a little bit of history about this old Victorian mansion. It’s absolutely gorgeous and very unique.

Dinner was absolutely delicious and the service was perfect. We felt a little like royalty. Surprisingly the food and the room were quite reasonable.